


I Am So Gone (So Tell Me The Way Home)

by SleeplessNightWithPhan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, Homophobia? idk, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 20:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8461609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleeplessNightWithPhan/pseuds/SleeplessNightWithPhan
Summary: Phil is just trying to do his job at the local cinema and getting over his break-up. But when he sees a man crying on his own in the theatre, long after the movie is over, he can’t help but feel like he has to help this person. And maybe they’ll help him as well.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I really should be preparing classes I need to teach, but instead I’m listening to a Rock Top 100 on the radio and writing phanfiction. I should be very proud of myself.
> 
> Title from One - Ed Sheeran

As it was a Saturday evening, it was quite busy at the cinema where Phil worked. Luckily, his shift was almost over, so he could go home and enjoy the rest of his evening by browsing the internet until two in the morning.

Everybody was exiting the theatre, and Phil was patiently waiting by the door for the last people to walk out before he could go in to clean all the empty drinks and the popcorn left on the floor. Among the stream of faces that were walking past him, he suddenly spotted a familiar one. One that had, until recently, been his to touch and kiss as he pleased.

They’d only been apart for a week and already he had a new lover hanging off his arm. A girl this time, with beautiful green eyes and a big smile on her face.

Phil couldn’t help but feel pity for her. Bryan might seem like a great guy at first, but once he gets bored with you, he’ll just throw you away and start searching for his next prey. (Sadly, Phil had only realised when it was too late to avoid heartbreak.)

The girl’s lipstick was obviously smudged, and some of it and make its way onto Bryan’s face. It seemed like they hadn’t really been paying attention to the screen, but more to each other.

As Phil watched how the two of them walked away, Bryan looked his way and the two of them made eye contact. Smirking, he turned back to the girl and pulled her a little closer by the waist, before letting his hand travel a bit further down.

In an effort to forget about the jealousy Phil was all of a sudden feeling, he went in to the now-empty theatre and started to gather all the empty cups.

That is when he spotted a man still seated on the front row. Phil decided to just let him sit there while he cleaned the room. Since that would take him another 15 minutes, he figured the guy would’ve left by then.

Except he didn’t. A few people who had bought tickets for the next viewing were already starting to come in, so Phil knew he had to ask this guy to leave.

“Excuse me, the movie has ended quite a while ago, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave the theatre” Phil asked quietly. He didn’t really like having to tell other people what to do.

From up close, Phil could see that the guy was really cute. He looked a bit younger than Phil himself, with brown hair cut into a fringe. His eyes were big and brown, but they seemed a bit puffy and red. Has this guy been crying?

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I was just lost in thoughts.” The guy answered, his voice sounding a bit rough. Yes, he has definitely been crying.

“Are you alright? Is there something I can help you with?” Phil was getting a bit worried about this stranger.

“Not really, but there’s no need for me to bother you with my problems. Anyway, I’ll be on my way. Sorry for bothering you” He smiled sadly, and Phil knew he couldn’t let this guy go home on his own. All thoughts about Bryan forgotten, Phil decides to help the cute guy in front of him.

“That’s ok, you really didn’t bother me. And telling me about your problems wouldn’t bother me either. Would you like to go grab a drink or something? My shift is over anyway. Maybe some company will help you.”

The guy’s eyes lit up at the offer. “Yes, I would like that a lot” He said, before standing up and following Phil out of the theatre.

*****  
Twenty minutes later, they found themselves seated on Phil’s couch with a drink in their hands. Phil had learned that the other guy was called Dan, that he was 21, and he was currently studying Law at university. In return, Phil had told Dan all about the life of a 26-year-old working in a movie theatre.

After their happy conversations naturally died down, Phil decided to ask a more serious questions.

“So, Dan. I know it’s none of my business, but why were you in the movie theatre crying by yourself?” Phil asked kindly.

“Well, that’s kind of a sad story, to be honest.” Dan started, and Phil saw how his eyes saddened immediately.

“I was supposed to go see the movie with my girlfriend of 3 years. We went out for dinner first in this Italian restaurant she really likes, and I thought we were having a good time. But after I had paid the bill and we were getting ready to leave, she told me she needed to talk to me.”

Dan’s eyes had started to tear up again while he was talking, and he had paused to wipe away a teardrop that had made its way down his cheek.

“About a week ago, I came out as bisexual to her. I wasn’t cheating on her or anything, but I though she deserved to know that part of me too. And she seemed fine with it at the time, she told me it wouldn’t change a thing between us. But today, she told me how she just couldn’t help but see me in a different way, and she hated the thought of having a boyfriend who was into men as well. Never thought she’d be the homophobic kind, but I guess I was wrong.”

By this point, more tears had escaped Dan’s eyes, and Phil took the box of tissues from the coffee table to offer them to Dan.

“After that, she just left me in the restaurant. I didn’t really want to go home and cry all by myself, so I decided to go and see the movie anyway. But as you might have noticed, I cried nonetheless.”

Dan was trying to be strong, but he started sobbing anyway, so Phil pulled him into his arms. Dan’s tears were staining his shirt, but he didn’t care. All he cared about, is that the guy he was currently holding in his arms was in need of somebody to hold, somebody to help him.

And in some way, Phil was as well. Bryan had only dumped him about a week ago, and Phil hadn’t been able to fully process that break-up either. He had been on his own all week long, he didn’t go and visit his family or friends, he had just focused on his job. But as he was holding Dan in his arms, he found his eyes welling up as well.

The two cried into each other’s arms until neither of them had any tears left to shed, still holding each other close, just enjoying each other’s warmth and comfort. They ended up falling asleep on the couch together, both exhausted from everything that had happened that day.

*****

The first thing Phil noticed when he woke up was the pain in his neck. Why did he fell asleep on the couch? And why did his house smell like pancakes?

Then he started to remember last night. How he had seen Bryan with a new lover. How he ended up taking a stranger home with him, and they cried for the entire night.

How said stranger is no longer on the couch with him. Nowhere to be seen, actually.

That’s when Dan came into the lounge. “Good morning Phil, I have made us some pancakes. You know, to say thank you for last night.” He handed Phil a plate with pancakes and a cup of coffee.

“I didn’t know how you would like your coffee, so I just made it the way I like it. Sorry if you think it’s disgusting or anything.” Dan laughed while sitting down next to Phil on the couch with a plate of his own. He seemed to make himself at home. Not that Phil had anything against that.

“I’m not used to somebody waking me up with pancakes and coffee, so you won me over already.” Phil joked while sipping coffee. It was just the way he liked it.

“It really was the least I could do. You were kind enough to take me to your house and hold me while I was bawling my eyes out. Strangers don’t really tend to do that all the time, if at all, so thank you.”

“It really wasn’t a problem. Besides, I’m glad to have had you there, to be honest. I kind of needed somebody to hold as well.” Phil admitted quietly.

“Is that why you were crying as well?” Dan turned so he could face Phil. “I didn’t really pay attention to that last night, but I was starting to wonder why you did that while I was making those pancakes.”

Dan seemed really interested, not like he was asking just to be polite, and since he had already told Phil about his break-up, Phil figured it’d only be fair to tell Dan about how sad his life was as well.

“My boyfriend broke up with me last week. We’d only been together for 5 months, but he said he got bored of me. That he never loved me, that he was just using me to get laid, those kind of stuff. I ran into him in the theatre yesterday, while he was with a girl.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Phil. You don’t deserve to be treated like that.” Dan put his hand on his lap.

“I know, and I’m not mad because I lost him. But it still hurts. I’ll get over it though” he sighted, leaning in to Dan.

“We both will.” Dan said as he put his arms around Phil shoulders.

*****

After their lazy morning (Phil found out that they both loved anime, so they just watched some of their favourite shows on the couch all morning), Dan and Phil started to see each other more and more often. They would have game nights where Dan would win race after race in Mario Kart, movie marathons that lasted until four in the morning, or Dan would just come to Phil’s house after his classes and steal his food. As it turned out, crying over lost lovers the first time you meet somebody can really form a bond between people.

But as the weeks went by, Phil couldn’t help but to start feeling things for Dan that weren’t strictly platonic anymore.

He would tell jokes just to see Dan’s dimple appear on his face, and to see that beautiful smile again. He would start to look forward to their movie marathons just a bit too much, because it meant that he could spend the entire night on a couch with the younger boy. He would find himself dreaming about chocolate coloured eyes, and little things he saw started to remind him of his friend.

They’d been friends for half a year already, and Phil’s crush hadn’t shown any signs of going away anytime soon. In fact, it had only became harder and harder to hide his feelings from Dan. Phil still didn’t know if Dan was over his last break-up, and he didn’t want to bring it up, in fear of hurting Dan’s feelings. So he just kept up the appearance of not wanting anything more than being friends, how hard it may be. 

*****

One night, Phil was just getting out of the shower when he heard someone knocking on the door. He wasn’t expecting any visitors, so he was quite surprised to find Dan standing in his doorway. Even though he was over 6 foot tall, he managed to look so small and fragile, and he seemed to be on the verge of tears.

“Can… can I please come in? I know it’s late, but I really need some company.” He asked timidly.

“Of course you can, don’t worry about the time.” Phil assured him. “Just go sit in the lounge, I’ll go get dressed and make you a cup of tea.”

When Phil walked into the lounge a while later, Dan was just staring at the wall ahead of him. He startled slightly when Phil sat down next to him, but calmed down quickly when he saw who it was.

“Lost in thoughts I assume?” Phil asked while handing Dan his cup of tea.

“A little bit, yes. I just ran into my ex-girlfriend today. She was with her friends, and they just started yelling things at me.” Dan smiled sadly.

“She what?!” He practically shouted. Phil felt his blood starting to boil. Breaking the poor boy’s heart was one thing, but this was just one step too far.

“I wasn’t that bad. They just called me a Gaylord and stuff like that. Nothing awful.” His eyes started to well up once again.

Phil pulled Dan into a hug, and started rubbing his back.

“Dan, Dan, no. That’s not ‘not that bad’. She shouldn’t say things like that. You deserve to be treated like the amazing person you are. The fact that she can’t see that she let go one of the most beautiful, funniest, kindest people on earth is not your fault. That’s completely her fault, and she has absolutely no right to take that out on you.” he whispered into Dan’s hair.

Dan lifted up his head to look Phil in the eyes. “You really think that?”

“Of course. It’s not your fault, it’s hers. You did nothing wrong.” Phil assured him.

“No, I mean those things you said about me, that I’m funny and kind. Do you really think that?” Dan’s voice sounded hopeful. 

Phil hadn’t realised what he had said until now, and started to blush. But there was no way he was talking himself out of this, so he just decided to go for it.

“Of course I do. I would be stupid not to think any of that. It’s all true.” He noticed how Dan started leaning in to him slightly, and his heart started to beat a bit faster.

“That’s funny, because every single one of those things applies to you as well.” Phil could feel Dan’s breath and could count the eyelashes that framed his beautiful eyes. This could not be happening; he couldn’t be lucky enough to have this wonderful guy liking him back.

He was pulled away from his thoughts by Dan cupping his cheek. “Can I kiss you?” Dan’s voice was barely above a whisper. 

Phil nodded slowly, still not believing what was happening, and the next thing he knew, Dan got even closer and their lips touched. The kiss was slow and sweet, and they pulled away after a minute, smiling like lunatics.

“That was nice.” Really Phil, that’s the only thing you can manage to say? But Dan just smiled at him.

“Does this mean you like me?” Phil couldn’t help but feel slightly insecure. Maybe Dan was just feeling lonely, and was just kissing him because he was available.

“Yes, you doofus. Of course I like you. How could I not?” Dan laughed at him. “I mean; you are absolutely amazing. You’re the prettiest guy I’ve ever laid my eyes on, and you’re the nicest soul on the planet. For God’s sake you bring home strangers who are crying in the cinema on their own.”

“I’ll have you know that I tend to only do that with cute strangers.” he grinned at Dan, before putting his hand underneath his chin and pulling him in for another kiss. 

*****

They fell asleep together in Phil’s bed that night, holding on to each other like they had the night they met. 

But this time, there were no tears in their eyes, no broken hearts; there were kissed being exchanged, sweet nothings being whispered to each other, hands being held.

Instead of mourning the end of a relationship, both of them were celebrating the start of a new one.

**Author's Note:**

> I've also got a Tumblr over [here](http://sleeplessnightwithphan.tumblr.com) :)


End file.
